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CONTEST ENDED – Thank you for submitting your stories!

#53: Dog Days of Summer

"The dog days of summer" conjure images of dogs laying around, panting from the sweltering heat of mid to late summer.

But the saying itself stems from the ancient Romans who associated these hot and humid days with Sirius, the brightest star in the Canis Major constellation (or 'Large Dog' constellation). Sirius is so bright, the ancient Romans believed it contributed additional heat to the Sun, causing July and August temperatures to soar.

As we are currently in the midst of them, it only felt fitting for this week's prompts are inspired by the dog days summer (or diēs caniculārēs in Latin)!

p.s. — On August 12th, bestselling novelists Caroline Leavitt and Gina Sorell are hosting a free webinar on creating believable characters. RSVP here!

This week's prompts

Write about a few people spending a long-overdue weekend away at a cottage.

Summer – 124 stories

Write a story that begins with someone's popsicle melting.

Summer – 259 stories

Write a story about a teenager spending their final days at home before going away to college.

High School – 118 stories

Write a story about summer love — the quarantine edition.

Romance – 131 stories

Write a story about another day in a heatwave.

Summer – 178 stories

Stories

“The Delights Of Magic Ice” by Aerin Rebecca ✨🌈

Submitted to Contest #53

“Uuuugh, nothing is possible!”The words fly out of my mouth as I fling my sweaty arms in the air. The sofa is damp and uncomfortable against my damp and uncomfortable back. “The AC will never start working, I will never stop sweating gallons, and THIS FREAKIN’ HEAT WAVE WILL NEVER END!”“Carson,” Ron emphasized, “be more, uh…positive.”“Dude, you were complaining a second ago.”“At least I wasn’t saying nothing was possible! That’s dark for a 17-year-old.”“But it's true.”I hauled myself up into a sitting position and slouched against the sofa. ...

160 comments 160

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“Melting Is Deadly ” by Aerin Rebecca ✨🌈

Submitted to Contest #53

The popsicle is going to kill me.Not directly. No, it’s the heat plus the popsicle that will end me.I remember those times when a popsicle melting was mildly annoying. Less to be eaten, more to be cleaned. It dripped down my leg, leaving a sticky trail of artificial flavoring.Now, the popsicle melting is deadly.I gulp and try to calm myself as it melts a little more. Because… Every drip that slides off shaves more time off my life.Every drop means I get closer to perishing.Every little bit of cherry ice that dares melt makes me cl...

184 comments 184

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“(Pink)y Promise” by Deborah Angevin

Submitted to Contest #53

Pink was my favourite colour.It looked innocent, yet sweet. Cute, yet cheerful.Just like me back in the last year of junior high school. The me who caught the eyes of a boy in grey-coloured uniform. The boy was standing at the gate when I came to hand in some documents to enroll in the high school of my choice. When our eyes met, I smiled at him and passed by.And it seemed my smile made him forget about the popsicle in his hands which started to melt under the sun, as his eyes followed me into the administration room.The same boy who tr...

311 comments 311

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“For My Truth, Would You Set Me Free?” by Doubra Akika

Submitted to Contest #53

“I hate you. I hate you so much,” I scowled at her, looking directly into her eyes. She taught me not to believe the words of other people if they were afraid to meet your eyes. She said it meant they were lying. I lied.When she grabbed those car keys, I should have stopped her. If I had known what would have happened, I would have stopped her but, who knows anything? We think we do, and then we realize we don’t know. Not even close.If only there was a way to go back in time, to prevent me from shouting those words. If only there was a way t...

160 comments 160

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“Trial by Fire” by Phebe Emmanuel

Submitted to Contest #53

Fire.Smoke.Ashes.They neared the Great Divide, each step heavier than the last. The notion that maybe they had left too late, and that they would never step foot through the gateway swam around in his mind, but Andrei pushed it away, struggling to keep hope alive through the damp washcloth draped over his nose and mouth. The sounds of an active war zone surrounding him and his heavily pregnant wife, Oleksandra, jolted the rocks underneath their feet as the bombs rained from the sky. He and Olek had come to the West about five semigens ago to...

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“The Things You Don't Say” by BeInspiredAbstracts/Etsy SarahGreenwood

Submitted to Contest #53

It was the hottest summer of the decade the year we bought our first air conditioner. It was August 1988, the summer before I entered high school, the summer before life got complicated. The six of us (seven if you count Daisy, the basset hound) loaded into the green Chevy station wagon and drove to Sears, Roebuck and Co. (as it was still called back then.) We were the only people on our street to get an air conditioner. Ronald Reagan was king and we were rich. &nb...

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“Red is a Common Color” by Lata B

Submitted to Contest #53

A warm breeze brushes my shoulders as I bike down 15th street. It might sound weird, but I'm on a quest to find a butterfly. I want to find the prettiest one. The most delicate one with fragile wings. It's a steamy hot day so surely, they should be out there somewhere. As the wind plays with my hair, I think about her. Her bright eyes wander through my mind. The way she laughed every time it rained. "God's peeing!" She would scream at the top of her lungs. Her smile was a disea...

111 comments 111

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“Split ” by Yoomi Ari

Submitted to Contest #53

You would expect me to powerlessly eat through my food, but here I am slurping the ramen. I bring my face closer to the half-filled bowl, using my chopsticks, I ambush and attack on the vulnerable. Pulling my feet up into a cross-legged position, the overly large pyjamas lay soft on my skin, keeping in the warmth at night, allowing me peace as the stars shine brightly above. I press the headphones until they plunge deeper into my ears, blocking out any noise my mind may make. Sighing, I drink a few sips of the broth. I stop and look ...

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“Crimson Tears” by Aditya Pillai

Submitted to Contest #53

It was summer; the sky was blue, the birds were chirping and Johann wanted to die.It was a curse. It would lure him in every year, making him feel emotions that weren't his. The excitement, the anticipation, the rush of release; all that which had seemed so wonderful and natural in the moment made him feel sick to his stomach in retrospect.The illusion of thrill; one not felt in and of itself, but only in its anticipation.It was a salesman who sweet talked you into buying that oh-so-neat product you always wanted, only for it to blow up in y...

149 comments 149

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“The Flavors of Life” by Amany Sayed

Submitted to Contest #53

Your lemon-lime popsicle drips steadily onto your tights. It’s like a summer routine now. Attempt to cool down with popsicle, ruin clothing instead. Seriously, though, your tights have suffered so much. There’s grass stains, ink, candle wax, and now a couple of drops of a lemon-lime popsicle. You take a lick. It’s one of those cheap ones, the ones that are shorter than a pencil and are packed with that delicious artificial flavoring. The ones you have no idea how to eat once you have only a little ice on one side of the stick ...

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“Here We Go Again” by Avery G.

Submitted to Contest #53

It was a hot summer Sunday, and I was already ready for winter. I was in my house, a nice two-story suburban home. We lived in a nice neighborhood that had a community pool. There were a lot of nice families and kids here. The thing was, all of my friends that lived here were on vacation. So here I was, bored and at home.“Mom,” I asked. “Can we please turn on the air conditioner? It’s so humid.”“No, Claire.” She answered, making cookies in the kitchen. “We need to save money. Go cool yourself off at the pool.”I pouted. “Mom, I have no one to...

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“A Thousand Galaxies” by Alby Carter

Submitted to Contest #53

The Parsons and the Adams had spent every summer they could remember on a small, private island somewhere tucked away in the Pacific Ocean. The island had been in both families for generations, but they were not friends; the reason being that neither family liked to share. This led to bargaining and bickering and bartering and bargaining for the island all summer long, but each family was accustomed to checks with lots of zeroes, and neither family wanted to give the island up. Eventually, they always agreed to split it down the middle and c...

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“Weeping Teacup Day” by Zilla Babbitt

Submitted to Contest #53

The lavender and the mallow sat watered in the sunny windowsill, looking out at the cracked stone plaza. Tendrils of ivy and honeysuckle swept into the window, trailing into the suds in the sink at each heavy, hot breeze. From somewhere in her house came touches of jazz and breaths of some heavy beast moving about on the floor.February’s house was in the middle of the Thistle Wasteland, now in the most cunning heat wave of sun and surety in a dozen years, and she had never had a visitor. She lived alone, in her house that looks like someone ...

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“Who is the Child?” by Lynn Penny

Submitted to Contest #53

Tough love, a parent’s perfect excuse to be an asshole. It sucks the life and soul right out of an innocent child to have a parent who doesn’t seem to love or care, but after years of repetition of meaningless conversations, it becomes nothing more than an irritating buzz.The days were counting down; most of his belongings were in boxes. His books were packed up, and his closet was becoming ever more empty. The sun shined through the blinds, giving Aiden a rude wakeup call. He struggled to get up from his bed, knocking down his class schedul...

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“Ash Called Oscar, Lina, Beba Maria” by Jubilee Forbess

Submitted to Contest #53

There was no reconciling with the summer sun after noon. There was no appeasing it, no cooperating, not a single delegation that could make that star calm down. It was a relentless force. It wanted to burn the citizens of the town up alive, wanted to melt the flesh from their bones and incinerate the bones till they were nothing but ash. Ash called Oscar. Ash called Lina. Ash called Beba Maria. The sun wanted to kill them all, and it wasn’t the only thing threatening to destroy them. There was the rumbling hunger that threatened t...

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Ended on 23:59 - Aug 07, 2020 EST

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Submissions must be between 1,000 - 3,000 words and will be approved and published on Reedsy Prompts within 7 days of the contest closing.

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